It’s Time To Retire Mississinewa School District “Indian” Mascot

We, the American Indian Movement True People of Indiana and Kentucky sanctioned chapter, are creating this petition to call for the discontinuation and elimination of The Mississinewa School district’s use of an offensive "Indian" mascot and the Tribal theme of the district as a whole. This is a call out to remove a mascot that dehumanizes, characterizes and stereotypes Indigenous Nations and people.  

The continued use of Native mascots, in educational and professional sports settings, has a long and harmful history. These mascots perpetuate racial stereotypes and cultural misappropriation, negatively impacting the identity and psychological development of Indigenous children.

In 2001, the American Psychological Association issued a resolution statement affirming the harmful effects of American Indian mascots, symbols, images, and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams, and organizations. The statement calls for the immediate retirement of Native mascots, stating that their continued use “undermines the educational experiences of members of all communities—especially those who have had little or no contact with Indigenous Peoples; establishes an unwelcome and often times hostile learning environment for American Indian students that affirms negative images and stereotypes that are promoted in mainstream society; and have a negative impact on the self-esteem of American Indian children.”  

The research clearly shows the harmful effects on all students when Native symbols, images, and personalities are used as mascots. Yet, according to a recent study by the National Congress of American Indians, there are still 1,940 total schools and 1,042 school districts across the U.S. that continue to have Native “themed” mascots such as Braves, R*DSK*NS, Chiefs, Indians, and Warriors. In 2020, 41 schools voted to eliminate these mascots.

So why would a school like Mississinewa continue to promote the use of an "Indian" mascot and why has it taken so long to change? 

We all have witnessed powerful moments in history movements across the United States and the positive effects of actions from professional athletic organizations like the former Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, Major Universities with their removal of insensitive Native American mascot and headdress logos. An ethnicity is not a mascot. A native headdress is not for non-natives to use as their logos. A school cannot stand against racism and teach their students how to shut racism down in their surroundings while actively promoting an insensitive caricature of an entire culture. 

Racism is in every little thing. If we let one racist action or symbol slide, we become complacent. If a culture says it’s racist, your job is not to say, “well you should feel honored.” You cannot be the last school toting a racist mascot when so many teams and schools are already moving forward. Social and racial justice is long overdue, and it starts in your school. Stop romanticizing racist traditions. An offensive mascot is not “Tribal Excellence”.

We, your indigenous community, are asking you, the Mississinewa School District to cease the cultural racism and discriminatory educational practices towards Native American Indians.

There are several reasons why the Indigenous people of this land should not be made into caricatures or mascots but most importantly, Native Americans are Human Beings that are alive today, whose Ancestors survived genocide and died to protect our traditional way of life. It is often argued that these mascots are to “Honor Us”. There is no honor in racism. There are other ways to honor the Indigenous people of this continent. Perhaps starting scholarships to help our youth attend college as we have the highest rates of poverty in the nation. But making Native Indigenous "people" into mascots or caricatures is not one of them.

It is demeaning and does not represent who we are as a people. Furthermore, the use of headdresses and face paint within this high school is unacceptable and should not be mimicked as it disrespects what we know to be sacred.

No one's culture should be for sale, nor should it be available for just anyone to take and decide what is “honorable” or “noble” because someone assumes it is acceptable to appropriate a race of people culture and beliefs. The Indigenous people of this land have suffered, been knocked down to their knees, but we are still here, and we will continue to exist for many generations to come. Our way of life, our ceremonies, our traditions, our language, our teachings all are very sacred to us and having such a mascot, like the “Mississinewa Indians”, attempting to dress like we do, having students and supporters painting their faces to look like Indians, perpetuates stereotyping. Culturally insensitive and racist mascots undermine the education a student may possibly receive, clouded by the school’s ill perception of what an Indigenous person is and making racism acceptable in the minds of our youth.

We as Native people, as well as Non-Native people, have come together to address this issue because we are concerned and appalled that even in today’s time, some of our schools are still teaching our children racism, desensitizing them from racial stereotypes of Native American’s which leads to racist bullying, discrimination, depression, cultural issues, and low self-esteem issues among our children. Many Native American Indian children exposed to this type of cultural racism will grow to be ashamed of who they are and their cultural identity because of this abuse. Educational institutions and teachers have a professional responsibility to eliminate racism in all aspects of school life; schools and teachers should not ignore multicultural issues in school but rather address them to provide a more positive learning environment for all students.

Having the children play dress up in stereotypical cartoon character-like costumes beating a hand drum, carrying a play tomahawk, feather fans or headdresses, painting faces, doing the tomahawk chops, hand over the mouth yelling or putting their hand up in the air and saying “how” are examples of inauthentic representations of American Indian cultures. Many school officials claim they are honoring American Indians and insist that their school's sponsored activities are not offensive. We argue otherwise and contend that these racist activities are forms of cultural violence in schools. Of course, many school administrators are all too familiar with the current legal and educational battles toward eliminating Indian mascots, logos, nicknames, and antics from school-related events. The US Commission on Civil Rights (CAR), the highest official governmental body of its kind, issued a strong statement in 2001 recommending that schools eliminate Indian images and nicknames as sports symbols.10 Grassroots efforts of thousands of American Indian parents nationwide prompted this decision among CAR members. Moreover, the critical mass of American Indian educational organizations and professionals supported the CAR too. Indian educators showed school officials that negative images, symbols, and behaviors play a crucial role in distorting and warping American Indian children’s' cultural perceptions of themselves as well as non-Indian children’s' negative attitudes toward and simplistic understanding about American Indian Peoples. Most of these proverbial stereotypes are manufactured racist images that prevent millions of school-age students from understanding the past and current authentic human experience of American Indians

As for those who will speak up and have spoken up to say that they are Native American Indian and do not find this to be offensive. We say to you, IF you do not follow the spirituality of your ancestors, IF you do not follow the teachings of your people, IF you do not do the ceremonies of your people, IF you do not have a people and community you are accountable to that do follow and are connected to their spirituality and ancestors and/or, if you follow a foreign religion or mindset, then you are not sincere to the ancestors, spirituality, and teachings of traditional Native American Indian people. So you cannot and should not speak for the Native American Indian community on what is best for them or what is offensive to them or not, because you will not understand if you do not know the history and/or if you are not connected to the way of life and spirituality of Native American Indian communities that are telling you that this type cultural racism and discriminatory educational practices are bad for all people, especially children and must be stopped if we are to have a better future for all people to better understand and respect one another.

Superintendent of the Mississinewa School District we respectfully request that you remove The Mississinewa High School’s mascot. You would not approve of any other race or culture of people being used as a mascot, so please do not do it with our people. The destiny of the American Indian has historically been robbed and controlled by anyone other than the American Indian. Today, we demand that our voices be heard regarding our destiny and all matters concerning our destiny as a people are honored. Be on the right side of history and the shift that is occurring across your nation and Turtle Island.

Wayne (Spike) Gaskin

School Board President

spike.gaskin@yahoo.com

Denny Smith

Vice President

dennysmith46933@gmail.com

Mississinewwa Community

School District 

(765) 674-8528